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Christie administration defends plan to relocate people with disabilities

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Judy McCabe, left, and her husband Bob McCabe take Judy's daughter Ellen Petroff , to her room at Woods in Langhorne, Pa. Petroff, a 44-year-old medically fragile, mentally handicapped woman has been a resident at Woods for almost 30 years. Woods is service organization for people with exceptional challenges, disabilities and complex needs. (
(Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — The official in charge of the Division of Development Disabilities today defended the state’s effort to move back to New Jersey hundreds of developmentally disabled people who are being cared for in out-of-state facilities.

Dawn Apgar, an assistant human services commissioner who oversees the division, told an Assembly panel today that the state has devised careful plans move back the residents that are tailored to their needs.

“I understand for families it’s extremely difficult, but we do have a plan,” Apgar said at an Assembly Human Services Committee meeting. “Some individuals have been out of state for many years, and families are understandably afraid of what this relocation brings. Our staff work closely with these families along with the community provider agencies in New Jersey to ensure that a seamless transition is possible.”

New Jersey currently pays for housing and treatment out-of-state for 464 developmentally disabled people, including some who have been in other states for decades, Apgar said.

But the state stands to gain nearly $21 million in matching funds from the federal government if it returns the residents to the state and house them in group homes so they can qualify for the Community Care Waiver program.

Apgar said that bringing the residents home would reduce waiting lists of New Jersey residents in need of services who are intellectually, behaviorally and developmentally disabled.

But families and Democratic lawmakers on the committee were skeptical.

One mother, Susan Anderson, said she has yet to find a facility in New Jersey that can provide the same standard of care for her 25-year-old daughter, who lives in a Pennsylvania facility called Woods Services.

Anderson said her daughter, who is mentally disabled, suffers from several severe health conditions, including seizures.

“In the several meetings we’ve had with potential providers, we’ve yet to see anything remotely close to what Woods can offer,” Anderson said. “One of the placements we looked at did not have an appropriate day program for Cara, which they’re required to do, and as an alternative I was offered to look at a senior citizens center down the road. My daughter is 25-years-old.”

Maureen Clark, whose 47-year-old daughter Maura has lived at Woods for 35 years, said she was dreading having to move her.

“This has been going on for a year and a half. The families have been put through just agony, and we’re so frightened,” Clark said.

Democrats on the panel sided with the patients.

“I’m feeling uneasy about this entire thing, because if New Jersey had the proper care, these individuals would have never left the state to begin with,” Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera (D-Camden) said.

But Apgar said some patients have been out of state for decades, and that services for them now exist in New Jersey.

“I don’t disagree with you that many individuals moved out of state at a time when there might not have been a resource… But we have spent a lot of effort and money to make sure that even those with the most complex needs can be met in the state,” Apgar said. “Really, the responsibility for us is to come to the table to ensure that whatever outline in that plan of care is provided. And we will not move anyone until we’re sure that that care is in place.”